Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

I know it's not Wednesday yet, but WTF's with this freakin' cold?!?!? Well, actually it's the freakin' wind that's got me ticked off. Wouldn't be so bad without the wind. And yes, I do realize that most people would consider the current NYC temperature of 19 degrees bad, but compared to Jim's current temperature of 8 degrees, I don't think it's really not so bad, eh? And I should be thanking my lucky stars that I don't have to deal with any snow, especially the blowing snow goin' on up north. Eeeyikes!

So, I'm a little cranky here. Wanna know why? (Just play along with the agitated lady and say "yes".)

• I've got classes tonight. Two paralegal classes. From 6:10 to 10:20. PM.


• I'm gonna have to schlep through the cold wind from the bus stop to get to the first class. Then half-way through the first class we have to schlep over to the library, which will be either too hot or too cold (flip a coin). Again, through the cold wind. Then another schlep through the cold back to the classroom for the second class. Then a huge schlep through the cold after class back to the bus stop and then either a short or long wait for the bus. Then a schlep from the bus to the train station (oh, please let me make the train!), and if I miss the train, a half hour wait for the next one. And if I'm lucky, I'll be home by midnight.


• And despite the fact that I am a knitter, I'm shockingly lacking in knitted woolly items to keep me warm tonight!!! Seriously, WTF was I thinking this morning!!!!!

Please don't misunderstand--I'm not complaining about the paralegal classes, which really are a good thing. Seriously. They are good, even if right now it makes for one long Tuesday. But, the cold is just sucking the life out of me. It's one of those days where I'd normally take advantage of having a subway station that goes directly into my office building, shielding me from the elements, so that I wouldn't have to go outside until I reached Long Island. But no, instead I'll be repeatedly thrown to the lions winds tonight. Sigh...

Unfortunately, I have no choice but to do something I swore I wouldn't do.

Wear my mismatched red socks before the third one is done.

What can I say--I need wool for my tootsies.

Oh, and another thing--what's with the Southern VT Weather Pixie in the side bar? Doesn't she own a coat ??? WTF?????

Saturday skies...

...posted on Sunday.

Babylon Village, March 3rd at 4:49 pm

Crappy Closeup of lunar eclipse, March 3rd at 7:02 pm

Cannon update

Hey--there's a very good article in today's Rutland Herald about the gun situation between the state of Vermont and the 2nd Baterry Vermont Light Artillery. No pictures online, but there may be in the print version. Jim's gonna pick up a paper today. The writer of the article contacted a Civil War artillery expert and put in some good quotes from him.

Thanks for looking. I promise I'll post some knitting content later!

Malabrigo--it does a body good!

Mmmmmmmm... Malabrigo...

Hand Warmers

Pattern: One Skein Wave Hand Warmers from Webs

Yarn: Malabrigo--Alpine Pearl (1 skein)

Needles: KnitPicks Options--40", size 9 (3.5mm)
using Magic Loop method

Started: February 11, 2007

Finished: February 15, 2007

Yup. Four days! You read that right! Talk about a fast project--although, I really, really, really wanted these to wear. I did one extra repeat on the pattern because I wanted them to be a little longer, but that was it.

So why did it take me so long to show you this? Because I was wallowing in The-Book-That-Shall-Remain-Nameless (which went to the printer on the 16th), and then a one-week review of the online version of The-Book-That-Shall-Remain-Nameless (which just finished today). Far more painful for Elsie than me, unfortunately. (Sorry Elsie!)

Oh--and in the middle of all of this I started taking two paralegal classes. (Another story for another post.) And I made a couple of trips up to the house. With some stops at Webs. (After all, it is on the way.) And... well... I never really blogged about doing the knit-from-you-stash thing, although I did put a button over on the left side there, but I was doing the knit-from-you-stash thing. Yeah. Well... I guess I only lasted about a month and a half on that. But even though I've fallen off the wagon on that one, I didn't fall too badly (some pictures tomorrow).

I know--lots to explain, but right now it's time for me to work on a couple of sleeves before going to sleep. No travelling this weekend, except maybe to Joanne's, so there will be blogging this weekend. Plus stash pix. I promise!

E.T.A. In answer to Carole's comment... the Alpine Pearl Malabrigo did come from my stash! It was purchased at Fabric Place in Cromwell, Connecticut about two years ago. So there!!!

Muppet Heads!

I just sent off a FedEx containing these...

Fun Fur Chemo Caps. Muppet caps. Ten of them. Knitted by some people in my office knitting group--Elsie, Linda, Rosemary and myself. So goofy, and sooo much fun to knit! Thank you, Mini, for organizing this!

Snowy, snowy night

The snow's just begun here in New York and my workday if just about over--at 9:38 p.m.! (We're still working on the-book-that-shall-remain-nameless.) It's been a long day and with the weather predictions for tomorrow I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get in here or get home. (The LIRR is notorious for crapping out in this kind of weather.) We'll have to see what kind of precipitation we wind up with.

But in the meantime, wanna see how my Malabrigo hand warmers are coming along?

Quite splendidly, I think! I'm going to make them just a scootch longer, but that there puppy's just about done.

(Speaking of puppys... you see the colors of the Empire State Building? It's lit up tonight in honor of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, which is over at the Garden.)

Oh--and a quick update on the cannon controversy. There was an article published in the Brattleboro Reformer about it, and... well... let's just say that many of the statments in it have enraged some members of the New England Civil War Artillery community. If there's one thing our unit--and our fellow reenators--take seriously, it's safe practices in the field. This article paints us as irresponsible. Nobody calls us irresponsible and gets away with it!!! Grrrrrrrrrr....

OK, time to run for the train now. Good night y'all!

Knitting progress

All week long I thought I was going to have to go in to the office this weekend to work on the-book-that-shall-remain-nameless. Then all of a sudden Friday morning those weekend plans were cancelled. Suddenly, I had a free weekend. So what did I do?

Friday night I was going to do all this knitting, but by the time I got home and had dinner, I had turned into a giant slug. So much for Friday.

On Saturday I had a much more productive day. Ran a bunch of errands, stopped at the yarn shop, and most exciting of all, I jumped on the Sensational Knitted Socks rebinding bandwagon..

After seeing a couple of bloggers do this I just had to do it myself. It's like having a whole new book! I'm so happy with it!!!

Saturday night was spent at Joanne's. Her hubby figured out why my computer was acting up. (It kept reving up to 100% CPU usage so some unknown reason. Thank you, Ricky!) I turned the heel on my 3rd red sock.

It's hard to see in this picture, but all three socks are slightly different. I guess I won't know which two are the keepers until I wash them.

I also swatched for some new Malabrigo hand warmers.

Alpine Pearl is the color. The pattern is from Webs. Even though I should really be concentrating on finishing some of my multiple projects, I really need some Malabrigo touching my hands. You understand, don't you?

And finally, what better way to end a weekend with a delicious roast chicken, especially one with rosemary, garlic, lemon, and honey.

And the gravy! Mmmmmmm...

Management tools

To reduce employee stress levels, place Malabrigo skeins or cakes atop overflowing inbox and encourage staff to fondle touch yarn. Especially effective during staff meetings while discussing psychotic author's irrational requests.

TGIF!!!

Some Super Bowl Sunday Stuff

I've been busy lately. On the office front, the first round of layoffs took place on the 26th. We're now working on the-book-that-shall-remain-nameless. (After a month of disinterest by the authors, we're expected to fast track 3,000 pages of manuscript in about 3 week. Unfortunately, we'll bust our asses and manage to do this, and further raise their unrealistic expectations. But that's a rant for another time...) On the Vermont/Jim front, things have been a little tense lately. We've got an issue, which I'll discuss below.

But first, I've got a little knitting content for you. Today I finished not one, but two items! The Village Knitter hosted a charity knit event for Care to Knit today, knitting chemo caps for our local hospital. My knitting group has been working on chemo caps for the last few weeks, but today I figured I'd start one for this charity. Not only did I start it, but in about an hour and a half I finished it!

People--this is such a first for me! Record time knitting! No potty breaks either!!!

Thank you, Joy, for documenting this historic event!

These Fun Fur/Microspun muppet caps just make me giggle. This one was pink fur and purple microspun. Very Valentiney and pretty! I hope this makes some little girl very happy!

My other finished item--the third pair of Fetchings for my sister. They're exactly the same as the other two pairs (navy blue RYC Cashsoft Aran). Even though I really love this pattern, I think I'm going to take a break from it for a while. I don't have any pictures of this pair, but if you go to Carole's blog, you can see us modeling our Fetchings last weekend. (I've got the pink sleeves.)

OK, now on to the non-knitting portion of today's post...

Y'all know that I do Civil War reenacting as part of the 2nd Battery Vermont Light Artillery. My unit has been the proud caretaker of "Evelyn," an original 12 pound Napoleon cannon, for the past 30 years. As a unit, we've taken our responsibility for the care of Evelyn very seriously and have kept her in excellent condition.

Well, we are in danger of losing the use of this magnificent gun. The details of this situation can be found at our unit's website, so I won't repeat all of this here. (Go ahead and take a look at the site. I'll wait...) But what I will say is this: the president of the board for the state organization that is now laying claim to the gun has engaged in what I would consider questionable tactics. He has basically contacted Jim (who is our unit's commander) on several occasions by phone and e-mail (with the occasionally follow up snail mail of e-mail attachments) and demanded that we immediately turn over the gun to him. Nothing official from the state of Vermont, who we have always believed to be the gun's owner. Just repeated demands to give them the gun now. He has never produced an official document from the state authorizing the transfer to their museum. The closest thing he's sent us is a document outlining the history of the gun's ownership that was addressed "to whom is may concern."

Now, we've always held that the state of Vermont is the owner of the gun, and that it was always possible that the state might order us to turn over the gun to them, but seriously, shouldn't that order go through some official channels and be accompanied by a state-issued order of some kind? And since when should valuable artifacts get turned over based on phone calls and e-mails demanding that they be handed over because someone says so??? (Can you say "bullying"? That's what I would call it.) So, that's what has been going on for the past month or so.

Fortunately, the gun is currently in winter storage at the Watervliet Arsenal (a secure government military facility, as well as the best facility for performing maintenance on it). Jim has been spending a lot of time investigating the ownership issue and it's really been stressful on him as well as me and the rest of the unit. It's not so much the losing the gun but how the whole situation is being handled.

Many of our fellow reenactors have been supporting us with a letter writing campaign to Vermont's Governor Douglas. If any of you would like voice your opinion on this to him, the Governor's website has a comment page that you can use.

2nd Vermont members with Senator James Jeffords
at Historic Hildene (Manchester, VT) in 2004.

If you've stayed with me this far, thank you for listening. And as a token of my appreciation, some bonus knitting pictures!


Here we have a picture of a sock meeting between bloggers! That's my Thuja sock on the left and Carole's lovely Opal sock on the right.

And look what's new in my Vermont fiber frolic room...

Details of the cubbie contents to come...

Eye Candy Friday

This beautiful blown glass ball was a housewarming gift from a wonderful couple who are friends of Jim's parents. It's hanging in our living room window. Simply lovely...